The Town of Richmond Hill has postponed a December 1st public meeting to discuss draft planning options and conservation management principles for the DDO lands until January, 2010. A statement sent out by Donna L. McLarty, Town Clerk reads:

In order to provide residents additional time to review the draft options and provide feedback to staff, the concepts will be released on the Town’s web site on Friday December 4th.  Hard copy printouts will also be available from Access Richmond Hill (ground floor 225 East Beaver Creek Road).  Written or e-mailed comments on the concepts may be provided to Town staff up to and including December 20th (e-mail your comments to [email protected]).

Based on input received, the concepts will be refined and presented to a Committee of the Whole meeting early in the new year (more details to follow).  Residents will have an opportunity at this meeting to offer their comments directly to Committee members.

Many RHN members have participated in the Town’s planning process as it relates to the Dunlap lands. All members of the public are encouraged to take the time to comment on the draft options that are to be released on December 4th.  For more information, please see the Town of Richmond Hill’s DDO information.

In other DDO news, on November 23rd, Richmond Hill Town Council voted to “pursue fines and penalties to the fullest extent possible in response to Metrus’ actions during its archaeological assessment of the observatory’s southwest field”.   Mayor David Barrow told a packed council chamber the town is preparing legal documents for a January 15th, 2010 court date and that a fine against the developer would be decided in court.  Some controversy remains over the actual number of trees that were illegally removed, since Town bylaw officers have not yet been able to access the site to untangle and measure a large pile of cut trees. For more details, please see the Richmond Hill Liberal.

Trees being removed on the Dunlap property.